Saturday, September 27, 2008

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday, September 26, 2008

In order to distract you from the havoc I've wreaked with America's pasttime, here is a photo-essay of what happened when I came home from work the other day.

I pulled up in the car and Matthew and Gus were in the front yard. They gestured wildly to me and said, "Come here! But walk slowly!" So I did and saw that there were 3 tiny squirrels in the yard, thus:
As soon as I appeared they all came running over, like "Finally! Mom's home!"

Cute!, I thought:

"C'mon, sis, it's Mom!!"



Then, I guess they thought, "It's Mom [or a tree]! Let's climb her!"
At this point, I am like, "Nyaaaagggghhhh!" but they were moving so fast and I was so afraid of kicking them or squishing them that I couldn't move.

But then:
NOT acceptable!! NOT acceptable!! I started screaming, "GET A STICK! GET A STICK!" and finally Matthew got a stick and pried them off.  

What was up with that?? Crazy little squirrels. We finally went inside and they disappeared. The end.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Phils lost, Mets won, Brewers won. Vengeful Baseball Gods 1, Diana 0.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Oh, hi. I thought I'd just post the National League East standings. For your Monday morning edification.

Philadelphia 88 68
New York 86 69 (1.5 out)
Florida 81 74 (6.5 out)
Atlanta 69 87 (19.0 out)
Washington 58 97 (30.0 out)

I'm just reporting the standings, people. Just in the interest of news. Also, I put my Phillies flag up on Saturday after they lost on Friday, and they won the next 2 games. I'm just sayin'...... 6 games left......

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Okay, so maybe we jinxed it a little - Phils lost (what happened, Mr. Myers??) and Mets won, so now we're 1/2 game out. But now I can put my Phillies flag up and help their mojo.

Last night I had a dream that David Bowie and I had a lounge act in a piano bar. He played the piano and I sang, but we only sang Christmas songs. I woke up with "Let It Snow" ringing in my ears. David's [I call him David] piano was on a platform that was very shaky, and occasionally he would throw me an ironic smile at the beat-up conditions under which we were performing. It was so realistic that it took me a couple of minutes this morning for me to realize that in reality I do not have a lounge act with famous singers in seedy bars, but am essentially a middle-aged suburban housewife, though admittedly an extremely glamorous one.

Now sing along with me.... "O the weather outside is frightful...."

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Psssssssst - The Phillies are in first place.......... (I'm whispering because I don't want to wake up the vengeful baseball gods......)

Monday, September 15, 2008

Why 8-yr-old Boys Should Be Grief Therapists

Today in the car on the way home from school:

Diana (giddy with cookie-induced happiness and the beautiful weather): "I'm so glad to be alive!"
Gus: "Yes, but we all die eventually."
Diana: "Well, my grandfather lived to be 100 and Pop's grandmother lived to be 105, so you have good longevity genes."
Gus: "Yes, but Grandma died when she was 73."
Diana (gulp): "That's true. I wish she lived to be 100."
Gus: "Yeah, then she'd be alive today!"
Diana (getting weepy), wistfully: "That would be the best....." (tears starting to roll...)

From the back seat, THUNDEROUS BELCH and "Ex..." THUNDEROUS BELCH "...cuse...." THUNDEROUS BELCH "...me!!!"

I then laughed so hard I actually did start crying. He belched all the way home and demanded that I rate each belch from 1-10. And thus ended my session with my grief therapist.

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

I've been meaning to post about everything I've been knitting, but got distracted by school and stuff. My arm cooperated on the trip to Vermont and I knit A LOT OF STUFF. Here's most of it.

First of all, I made up some samples for some new Momogus Knits patterns. Here are the Easy Cable Mittens in adult and child's sizes (both in 1824 Wool):


I also knit up 2 samples of the matching Easy Cable Scarves pattern:
Chunky-weight version, in Cascade 128 Tweed, one of my most favorite yarns of all time.
Worsted weight version, in Cascade 220

Then I finished two store samples:



Momogus Knits Baby Cable Cardigan in Berroco Comfort DK, for Neighborhood Knits in Dearborn, Michigan
And:

Momogus Knits Easy Child's Cable Pullover, in Berroco Comfort, for Your Local Yarn Shop in Battle Creek, Michigan. I also did matching  hats for both these samples.

Then I did a prototype for a new Momogus Knits pattern, the Chestnut Hill Baby Gansey:
Lana Grossa Merino 2000, also an alltime MM fave. I love how this turned out. Look how the stockinette stripes in the yoke meld into the ribbing on the collar! Figuring that out took a year off my life.

Here's another sample for another new Momogus Knits pattern (and Tangled Web class in November, I think). Momogus Knits Easy Reversible Cable Scarf:
In Cascade 128. Figuring out reversible cables was mind-boggling too.

So that was a lot of Momogus Knits stuff. 

I decided to give my poor boggled mind a break and start a Wonderful Wallaby for Gus. We're doing a Knit-Along at the Web in a week or so. I haven't done a Knit-Along since the Tangled Yoke Cardigan, and I needed a corrective emotional experience because I made a Wallaby about 5 years ago that turned out great and was a horrid pilly mess after the first time through the washer. No more cheapo horrible Lion Brand Wool-Ease for me after that. 

So anyway, I wanted to use up some of the 25,000 balls of Mission Falls 1824 Wool that I've hoarded over the years. I didn't have enough of any one color, but I figured I could make it in cool stripes for my ultra-cool, long-haired, high-sock-wearing dude. Here is the result:

YUCK! And EW!! It actually looks better in this picture because the colors are washed out. I'm all for olive-green and brown and retro colors, but this combo was just too repulsive and a whole sweater with those stripes would be too busy and weird. So I gave in and bought some charcoal grey Encore Worsted at the store (I did use yarn I had at home for the stripes, so that made me feel a little better).

Here's the new version (side view of pouch - the stripes are darker in person):
Ahhhh. Much better.

So that's what's been going on with me. I still have to finish a sample of the Reversible Cable Scarf in worsted weight and figure out the sizing and do a sample for a child's Chestnut Hill Gansey. And then maybe I'll take a break from Momogus stuff and do a lace shawl or something completely different. Or maybe not.

Thursday, September 04, 2008

First day of school. Gulp. Here is my crazy, skater-dude boy:

(I cannot get him to wear short socks, no matter how many I put out. It's his "style". I also could not get him to comb his hair, also because it is his "style". Mothers are always trying to cramp one's "style" apparently.) (Now excuse me as I go eat some Twinkies to get over my blues at being in the house alone.....)